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Federal judge dismisses Montgomery inmate civil rights lawsuit

Alabama currently has 182 inmates on death row, with an average age of 32. These are the nine oldest male inmates and oldest female inmate.

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An inmate sits on his bed at Draper Correction Facility in Elmore County on Feb. 6, 2017. Draper Correction Facility is the oldest correction facility in the state of Alabama. The prison opened in 1939. It is currently housing 1059 prisoners, Draper's designed capacity is 656.(Photo: Albert Cesare / Advertiser)Buy Photo

A federal judge on Monday ruled in favor of the Alabama Department of Corrections and dismissed a federal lawsuit alleging civil rights violations in a Montgomery prison.

Shaquille Parker filed the suit in 2014, claiming that ADOC and staff at Kilby Correctional Facility violated due process by keeping him in "close custody," or solitary confinement, which exacerbated his mental health conditions.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Gray Borden found that while there is precedent of "nearly total isolation" posing a substantial "risk of psychological harm," Parker, representing himself in the lawsuit, failed to provide evidence to support his claims.

"But the evidence does not suggest that [the state and prison employees] had any knowledge that Plaintiff was suffering physically or mentally as a result of the conditions in close custody," Borden wrote.

Serving a life sentence for robbery and burglary under Alabama's habitual offender law, Parker alleged in the suit he was shackled during his one hour of exercise per day and sought psychological help for audio/visual hallucinations. In 2015, he was moved to a padded cell for suicidal inmates.

Parker was confined to close custody for a year due to an assault during a previous incarceration at Madison County Jail, which he was later convicted and sentenced for. He argued he was being unfairly punished twice — by both the court system and his classification in close custody — for the assault.

"Parker’s classifications have only come as a result of his own behavior," Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and state general counsel Anne Hill wrote in a December 2017 court filing.

Last year, a federal judge ruled against ADOC in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of disabled inmates in 2014.

Thompson's ruling found that ADOC placed seriously mentally ill prisoners in segregation for prolonged periods of time without adequate consideration of the impact of segregation on mental health, as well as provided inadequate treatment and monitoring in segregation.

Read or Share this story: https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/crime/2018/08/07/shaquille-parker-loses-civil-rights-lawsuit-against-alabama-department-corrections-kilby-correctiona/922505002/